NEW DELHI:There is no proposal under consideration of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry for expanding Doordarshan’s round-the-clock news broadcast to around 100 countries, Parliament was informed today.
“At present, there is no such proposal under consideration,” Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
The minister said Doordarshan India/Doordarshan News was available in a number of countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China (partly), Ukraine, Armenia, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq and Turkey (partly).
To a query on steps taken by the government to popularise Doordarshan in the country and compete with private channels, Rathore said that as the public service broadcaster, Doordarshan’s programming was focused on issues of public interest like health, education, empowerment and social justice.
“Thus Doordarshan’s programmes cannot be compared with private channels as both are totally different in their objectives and programming formats. However, Doordarshan is striving to provide impactful and compelling programmes to become the preferred channel of people,” the minister said.
He said it was “constant endeavour” of Doordarshan to modernise its infrastructure and improve the quality of programmes. (AGENCIES)
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